1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to food preparation machines, and more particularly to a machine for automating the preparation of pizzas.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is conventional to use machines for dispensing various forms of dry, flowable material and for dispensing self-adhering and/or compactable materials. Such machines are particularly useful in the processed food preparation industry for dispensing various types of solid ingredients onto food products passing beneath the dispensing machine. An example of one such machine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,498,635 to Fielding.
These dispensing machines may be mounted upon a portable dolly for easy location or relocation of the machine. Or, the machine may be mounted in a fixed location, as a dispensing station along a conveyor system. In either scenario, this conventional solid food dispensing machine is limited in that only solids may be dispensed therefrom. Should a food product require both solid and liquid topping dispensed thereon, a separate liquid topping dispensing machine would have to be utilized, either in portable dolly form or at a different dispensing station along the conveyor system. An example of such a food product is a pizza pie, wherein it is desirable to dispense liquid toppings, such as tomato sauce, and solid toppings, such as cheese, mushrooms, meat and the like, upon pizza dough. It would therefore be desirable, at least for space considerations, to be able to dispense both solid and liquid food toppings from one dispensing assembly.
With the advent of digital circuitry, microprocessors and the like, and the advancements in automatic control systems technology, it has become possible to automate many tasks which have heretofore been manual in nature. Industrial manufacturing in general has been revolutionized by applying these new technologies to automate, for example, fabrication and assembly of numerous products. The food industry can likewise benefit from the application of these same technologies. Specifically, the preparation of food items wherein several discreet steps are required in order to produce an end food product may be automated with the proper blending of machinery, control system, and computer. An example of just such a food item is the pizza pie, wherein liquid and solid toppings are sequentially applied to a pizza dough.
It has therefore been one object of the present invention to provide a food topping dispensing assembly wherein both solid and liquid food toppings may be dispensed therefrom.
Another object of the present invention has been to provide a liquid and solid food topping dispensing assembly which may be used in conjunction with a food supporting platen to dispense toppings thereon.
Yet another object of the present invention has been to provide means by which a food supporting platen and a liquid and solid material topping assembly may be moved one with respect to the other such that liquid and solid toppings may be dispensed upon foods atop the platen when the platen is moved beneath the dispensing assembly.
A further object of the present invention has been to automate the heretofore manual task of preparing pizzas.